Comfort Zone

And yet again I have been nominated for a Free Writing Challenge. This time by my friendDesley from Musings from a Frequent Flying Scientist. I have indulged in countless typos, while writing for 10min, non stop and, as instructed, not correcting anything. The theme is as you may have already guessed: Comfort Zone.

Here is my take.

I could speak about comfort zone without talking about me , richt? But it becomes so imperosnla. And opps, I just saw my typos. Sorry Desly. This is a disaster.

Ok this free style takes me form my comfrt zone. I don’t like to look silly and and I dony like to write in English making even more mistakes than what I normally might already dod. How embraasing.

I rather focus on content than worry about technique, in anythng I do. Actually. But at the ened I check the technique and make the needed corrections. That’s more me.

So, confession nuber one is: yes, I still worry about the opinion odf some people. Not everyone though. And that haunts me. It feels very weak, although it is very human. But it is also very soc ially imposed.

Besides the already mentioned, second confession comes about not showing my photos on public social media. There is a limit for what I want to share on the web about family life. I know it may sound hypovceritiacl because I blog and psits photos of people I shoot on the streets. Sorry about that. If you think it is bad, I can only tell you that I am not exploting thse photos and the people in it. I consider it more a form of art.

What else takes me from my comfirt zone? Public speaking. I can do it and have done it countless times in my professional life. And will do it again and again. But before doing it, I host thousand butterflies in my stomach and a water fall goes all the way down my body. But what keeps me ok is to know I know what am talking about and… to be myself, to be personal. Then I find ‘my zone’ and present without fear. It takes a few horror seconds each time though…

Is there anything else that takes me from my comfirt zone? Yes, many. But my alrma just rang and I am done!

Word Count: 339

The Rules:

Open an MS Word document
Set a stop watch or your mobile to 5 minutes or 10 minutes whichever challenge you think you can beat.
You topic is at the foot of this post BUT DO NOT SCROLL DOWN TO SEE IT UNTIL YOU ARE READY WITH A TIMER.
Fill the word doc with as much words as you want. once you began writing do not stop even to turn.
Do not cheat by going back and correcting spellings and grammar with spell check in MS WORD (it is only meant for you to reflect on your own control of sensible thought flow and for you to reflect on your ability to write the right spelling and stick to grammar rules)
You may or may not pay attention to punctuation and capitals. However if you do, it would be best.
At the end of your post write down ‘No. Of words =_____’ so that we would have an idea of how much you can write within the time frame.
Do not forget to copy paste the entire passage on your blog post with a new Topic for your nominees and copy paste these rules with your nominations (at least 5 bloggers).

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Sharing sights & insights captured with diverse angles.
Ex-corporate, now my own boss. Cycling, hiking, cooking, reading, yoga, writing and photography, are no longer only hobbies listed on my resume. It's what I do when I want.

Congratulations on putting yourself out there and just doing it. Free writing, timed, no correcting… would take almost everyone out of their comfort zone. Funny… because as a teacher…. I ask my students to do the same. No wonder they struggle with it.. Thanks for opening my eyes to that.

What other people think of you is none of your business. I heard that quote a long time ago and very quickly adopted that as my mantra.
I think you are awesome, Lucile. I read your post just fine. Content is the thing for me, also. You are fantastic in these challenges. Keep on!

I think you’re very respectful of how others come across in the photos you post. What you post is, indeed, art. Many people post really horrible shots of people. I can’t for the life of me figure out why they do it, but that’s a big part of the reason why I won’t allow others to “shoot” me. I’ve always been afraid of “bad photos”, now I’m even more afraid because it’s very likely those bad photos will be put online. I, like you, used to keep all photos of myself off social media, or set them to “private”. Then when I got my iMac I discovered that that thing took very flattering selfies. It turned me into a narcissist. I started posting photos of myself all the freaking time, and I would set them to “public”. (I’m pretty sure that every photo of me posted by me on any of my social media platforms is a selfie.) Sadly, my Canon 70D’s arms-length portraits are not so flattering, so I don’t take many with it. Maybe when I expand my lens collection, I’ll find one that will be a little kinder (like my iMac).

Thank you Amy. It is good to hear your feedback about that. I do agree with you that there is a lot out there that is juts not right, nor respectful.
Before blogging I used only FB and a bit of Instagram, but just connected to close friends. Even though I never let them tag me nor published many photos. My FB is mostly used to comment and keep connected but I hardly ever post anything. Instagram is different because it is all about photos anyways, and I don’t post mine there.
At the end I think that we can never really protect ourselves because other people will post our photos anyways. So I am more relaxed about that now, although I haven’t changed my habits.
Interesting to learn about your experiences. I think you will always look good at any selfie. Your photo at the blog is gorgeous. So, make more with our Canon too.

You’re right about not being able to really protect ourselves online. In the last six months or so, I’ve started making almost everything (about 80-90%) of what I post online “public”. I’ve adopted the idea that if I’m going to put stuff out there, it should be stuff I don’t care if the entire world sees.

Thanks for the “selfie” compliment. The photo I use for my blog profile is actually one taken with my Canon, but I took over a hundred to get it. No joke. It was very challenging finding the sweet spot of the lens while holding it so close to my face.

Exactly. I think in the same way. I don’t publish anything that I cannot live with. And even friend’s tags are of photos I have no problem with. I just don’t want it everywhere.
Maybe you’re just too self critical. I’ll go there to make your portraits!

A fascinating post Lucile, and I loved it. You blog so extremely well in English, I always just assumed this was your main language. This has given me an even greater respect for what I already have for you.

Can identify with many of your points personally. Often worry about other people’s opinion, and the public speaking. Do speaking each week, and I love doing it, but boy those butterflies are so real.

Thank you for sharing so personal and so beautiful. You packed so much material into those 10 minutes.

Carl, you are extremely kind. Thank you for encouraging me and supporting my blog. It means a lot to me.
Indeed English is not my mother tongue and to join these types of challenges brings uncertainty because I become overly self conscious.
Reading your words makes me relax and smile. Interesting to learn that we share some of my discomforting situations. After all we are just human!
Thank you for your heartwarming comment, my friend, and have a beautiful week.
Lucile

I very much applaud you for writing this and it is well done. Yes there are typos, but I think that adds charm. Now for me?…I cannot publish anything with typos. Even in comments like this I will correct my mistakes. I used to be a proofreader and copyeditor so I cannot condone this practice, LOL!
On another note, the retreat I was part of all weekend challenged us to show our vulnerabilities and let the cracks show through without spackling them. Your words captured this very well. Oh and I love the fact that although you give public presentation, that you still get butterflies. So do I. We’re human after all.